The CU*belong Online-Coaching-Programme
Scalable personal & collective development for an inclusive culture that promotes belonging for everyone.
WHY CU*belong?
A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2019 found that “Social belonging is a fundamental human need that is ingrained in our DNA. Yet 40% of people report feeling isolated at work. The result is lower engagement in the organisation. (…) When workers feel a sense of belonging, companies benefit significantly (…) High belonging was linked to a whopping 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk, and a 75% reduction in sick days.”
The Gallup ‘State of the Global Workplace: Report 2023’ found that emotional belonging has almost four times the influence on employees’ stress levels as the place of work. The average emotional belonging of employees, for example in German companies, is 34%, in companies that actively work on the quality of leadership and the working environment it is already 40% on average and in the best case it can even rise to over 60%.
To put it in the famous words of management consultant Peter Drucker: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
CU*belong is a scalable personal development and culture change programme that transforms all central aspects of organisational reality necessary for a culture of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB):
Mindset
from isolated and overwhelmed to ownership and self-efficacy.
Behaviour
from reactive and blaming to pro-active, cooperative, and engaged.
Systems & Processes
from bureaucratic and hierarchical structures that hinder Inclusion to organisation wide transparency and equal opportunities.
Culture
from silos and exclusion to a culture of belonging and deliberate development.
THE CU*belong METHOD
CU*belong achieves the personal development of each participant, which creates the soil for an inclusive organisational culture.
The organisation hereby develops into a Conscious Tribe whose engaged members:
1. Invest in inner work
CU*belong promotes personal development through strengthening of inner metacompetencies:
- self-reflection: See strengths and weaknesses, recognise and change your own patterns.
- self-compassion: Develop understanding and empathy for one’s own life path and
personality. - personal ownership: recognise and proactively address one’s contribution to problems
as well as solutions. - the ability to engage in deep dialogue: create safe spaces with others through open
communication.
2. Understand the BIG picture
CU*belong increases the ability to take a meta-perspective and thus
- to observe the interaction between individual and collective reality,
- take into account the interfaces between stakeholders inside and outside the
organisation, and - to develop a systemic understanding of the overall organisation.
3. Live deep relationships
CU*belong fosters the building of meaningful and trusting relationships in the organisation,
- by supporting people to talk to each other instead of about each other,
- by training empathy and active listening,
- and by making employees see themselves as role models for the organisation.
4. Practice conscious rituals
CU*belong introduces rituals that make sustainable change possible because they are
- meaningful and goal-oriented,
- applied regularly and
- reviewed for their usefulness and effectiveness.
THE CU*belong FORMAT
On our online platform we playfully combine individual and social learning. This blended learning approach enables simultaneous coaching even of very large groups.
Individual learning through self-reflection
- exposure to models and theories in the form of entertaining and
informative video and audio content on the online platform. - tasks to deepen self-reflection.
- building a personal reference library in the form of the programme
contents in PDF format.
Social learning through interaction
- bi-weekly pod conversations with colleagues to deepen the learning and
help with application in everyday life. - dialogue with colleagues from other parts of the organisation on the
online platform. - bi-weekly live video conferences with colleagues from other parts of the
organisation moderated by a CU*i coach.
Duration
CU*belong consists of 6 modules delivered over a period of three to four months.
Change takes time. The process, spanning several months, allows for a shared language to develop throughout the organisation and the sustainable integration of new rituals into daily life.
Participants
CU*belong democratises access to highest quality content. It is designed for employees at every level of the organisation, from top leadership to the frontline.
Time Commitment
CU*belong supports micro-learning i.e., small tasks, that can be completed on any device at any time.
The optimal time commitment averages 20 minutes per workday.
CU*belong CONTENT
The intellectually and visually engaging learning journey of the CU*belong programme features content developed by coaches, psychologists, and designers. They are based on the newest insights from psychology, neurosciences, and adult learning.
The CU*belong programme combines individual personal development with collective development in the form of interdepartmental pod conversations and group video conferencing.
Module overview
1. Principles and groundwork
On the basis of intuitive models, the role of personality development in cultural transformation is explained, why we need to leave our comfort zone and how our mindset drives our behaviour.
2. Eeny-meeny-mo…
Diversity is introduced as a fact and a starting condition. Reflecting on one’s own experiences of exclusion serve as a starting point for more self-respect and respect for others and as the pre-requiste of a culture in which everyone feels they belong.
3. Tailwind and Headwind
Education about the concept and roots of intersectionality – Raising awareness about the realities of life of people who are different from me. Introduction of the ‘ladder of learning’ model as a visualisation of learning processes.
4. Valley of Tears
Raising awareness of who is affected most deeply by exclusion while understanding that everyone, to varying degrees, is a victim of the system – even those who benefit. Broadening our own self-definition to allow for more difference in ourselves and others and to utilise our strengths.
5. Get on the Balcony
The meta-reflection from the box allows to compile the most important insights of the journey and, based on the tools of CU*belong, to develop a joint plan of action.